CCA Campaigns for Greater Medicare Coverage for Chiropractic
The Clinton administration has expressed interest in using managed care to slow the growth of Medicare. Alice Rivlin, director of the Office of Management/Budget has said: "The whole private sector is moving much more toward managed care, leaving Medicare almost as an anomaly."
The California Chiropractic Association (CCA) is now expressing concern that some Medicare patients are not receiving the same benefits and protections under Medicare managed care plans as they would under Medicare Part B. To discuss the impact this issue could have on chiropractic, members of the CCA met with Jean LeMasurier, director of Policy and Program Improvement, Managed Care Office at the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) in Washington, D.C.
The CCA contingent (President Craig Little, DC, Executive Director Garrett Cuneo, Jerilynn Kaibel, DC, chair of the Insurance Commission, and Kurt Hegetschweiler, DC, chair of the Legislative Commission) related their concerns that Medicare managed care plans are using non-physician personnel to do physician-required functions. Dr. Little pointed out that some HMOs, Kaiser Permanente in particular, use PTs to perform spinal manipulation on Medicare patients, even though PTs are not included in the Medicare definition of physicians.
The group also addressed concern that:
For the fourth straight year, patients responding to a survey about Life Chiropractic College-West's teaching clinic gave the facility high marks, with 91 percent rating the clinic excellent or good in areas ranging from quality of care to the clinic's appearance. The survey, completed in March 1995, queried nearly 300 patients, 90 percent of whom said they believed chiropractic care was helping them.
Los Angeles of Chiropractic-West students Marcus Strutz and Naomi Bauer won achievement scholarships for winter quarter 1995, and Kendra Holloway received an award for both winter and spring quarters. Students are selected based not only on academic standing, but community service activities and personal accomplishments.
Life West alumnus/faculty member W. Michael Gazdar, DC, CCSP, has written Taking Your Back to the Future, a book designed to help patients understand the role of chiropractic in health. The book includes true patient stories, a guide to finding a good chiropractor, exercises, and current research on the effectiveness of chiropractic care. "My goal is to get as many people as possible to chiropractors so that they can become healthier," said Dr. Gazdar.
Thomas Gregory, DC, PhD, LCCW associate professor and research assistant, has co-authored an article that appeared in the February 1995 issue of JMPT. The article "The Effect of Exercise on the Presence of Leukocytes, Erythrocytes, and Collagen Fibers in Skeletal Muscle After Contusion," was co-authored by Richard Heckmann, PhD, and Rulon Francis, PhD, both of Brigham Young University. The article focuses on how exercise can affect the healing of a muscle contusion, or bruise.
Palmer College of Chiropractic-West has introduced a new clinical practice curriculum, a 13-quarter program that begins with the incoming class of summer quarter '95 that standardizes the first 10 quarters. There will be courses which emphasize specific areas of instruction linked by common subject matter over several successive quarters: chiropractic clinical evaluation; chiropractic technique and management; foundations of chiropractic practice; problem solving in differential diagnosis; radiographic interpretation; and a series of courses that emphasize the development of primary care skills.
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
It is estimated that 61% of patients with CTS avoid taking surgical options due to postoperative complications and costly surgical procedures. Chiropractic care offers a comprehensive and effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, addressing the condition from multiple angles. Recent studies also have unveiled a game-changing adjunct to chiropractic treatments for CTS: nerve flossing.
Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
